Washington’s White Birds of Winter – Swans and Snow Geese

Name: Washington’s White Birds of Winter – Swans and Snow Geese — North Cascades Audubon Society
Start: 2023-01-24T19:00:00-0800
End: 2023-01-24T20:30:00-0800
Location: Whatcom Museum

Tuesday, January 24, 2023
7:00 PM 8:30 PM 19:00 20:30

Whatcom Museum (map)

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NCAS Membership Meeting (In Person at the Whatcom Museum Old City hall Rotunda Room)

MARTHA JORDAN, well-known swan biologist, will present a program regarding the changing landscape that our swans and snow geese now face in migration and on their wintering grounds. You will learn about their life history, biology, and what influences their distribution across our state and the flyway. She will shed some light on the problems and controversies these birds face on their wintering grounds and what is needed to insure their future. Get updated on the swan lead poisoning problem, winter habitat issues, avian influenza, and more. You will leave with resources to help you identify swans in the field, including a printed swan/goose identification pamphlet. Learn how to help “Get the Lead Out” of both shooting and fishing sporting activities.

She will provide updates on eastern Washington swans and how Washington’s west and east sides are connected for swans, including in Whatcom and Skagit counties. This is vital to the welfare of swans and all water birds. A poster display will be available to view: Birding with Awareness: Creating connections between waterfowl and their habitats. Martha presented this at the International Swan Symposium in October this year.

Bio:

Martha Jordan has a B.S. degree in Wildlife Science from Oregon State University. Professionally she has worked both in marine and terrestrial environments throughout Washington and parts of Alaska. In the late 1970s while volunteering to observe snow geese and reading their collars in the Skagit Valley, WA, she began to look at the small group of Trumpeter Swans in the same area. By 1984 she had expanded her survey efforts to all of Western Washington and had contributed much information to both state and federal agencies on the status of Trumpeter Swans in Washington State. She wrote the state’s first Trumpeter Swan management plan in 1985. She is still active in both field work and education related to both Trumpeter and Tundra Swans throughout the region. She is currently the Executive Director of Northwest Swan Conservation Association, a regional non-profit. The focus is on our native swans and their habitats throughout the northwest region.